How to create and distribute NetBoot image.

Creating NetBoot image can be devided into three steps:

1. Capture an OS X Boot Image.
2. Add the OS X Boot Image to Configuration Manager.
3. Distribute Content of the OS X Boot Image.

Capture an OS X Boot Image:

1. Download PmmOsdImageBuilder.dmg: Go to SCCM > Administration > Overview > Parallels Mac Management > Mac Client Enrollment.

2. In the Mac Client Enrollment list, right-click the Mac Client installation package download URL item and then click Properties in the context menu.

   

3. Copy the URL to clipboard and save it to a text file. In the file, replace the "pma_agent.dmg" part of the URL with "PmmOsdImageBuilder.dmg".

4. Transfer the file to the reference Mac and open the URL in a web browser to download the PmmOsdImageBuilder.dmg file. When done, mount the image in OS X.

5. Open Terminal and change directory to the PmmOsdImageBuilder.dmg image mount point (e.g. /Volumes/Parallels OSD Image Builder 4.0.xxxx.yyyyyy).

6. Execute the following command in Terminal:

   sudo ./pmm_osd_image_builder netboot -n [output-dir] --ntp-servers [ntp_servers] --ssh-authkeys [ssh_keys_file]
   

   where:

   [output-dir] - is a directory where you want the NetBoot image to be created; 
   
   [ntp_servers] - is comma-separated NTP server hostnames or IP addresses; 
   
   [ssh_keys_file] - is a path to the SSH keys file. The NetBoot image will have these keys configured for root SSH access. 
   

7. Copy the entire resulting [output-dir] directory to a location on the computer running the Configuration Manager console.

Add the OS X Boot Image to Configuration Manager:

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Software Library / Overview / Operating Systems / Operating System Images.

2. Right-click Operating System Images and then click Add OS X Boot Image.

   

3. The Add OS X Boot Image dialog opens.

   

4. In the path to the OS X Boot Image directory field, specify the path to the OS X Boot Image folder. The other field should contain name and path where you want the image file .wim to be created.

5. Click Next.

6. Specify an OS X Image name and version and click Next.

7. Wait for the image to be converted to the .wim format.

8. Click Finish.

Distribute Content of the OS X Boot Image:

1. In the Configuration Manager console, right-click the OS X Boot Image and then click Distribute Content in the context menu

   

2. In the Distribute Content wizard, select the Distribution Point where the Parallels NetBoot server is installed and complete the wizard.

3. You can monitor the content status in the NetBoot Image Summary pane. You must wait for the circle to turn green (as shown in the picture below) before proceeding to the next step. You can press F5 to refresh the view to speed things up a little.

   

   To verify that the OS X Boot Image has been deployed successfully, log into a Mac connected to your network and open System Preferences > Startup Disk. The OS X Boot Image should be included in the Select the system you want to use to start up your computer list.